It wasn’t flashy, as the Oilers often are with scoring superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
But the Islanders had a game plan to protect their net and block as many shots as possible. Adding a dominant special teams’ performance that fueled a three-goal second period to that tipped the match their way in a 3-1 win on Tuesday night at UBS Arena to snap a two-game losing streak.
“I thought we did a great job staying to our systems and to play our game,” said Simon Holmstrom, who scored his fifth shorthanded goal of the season. “I think we shut them down pretty good.”
The Islanders (15-8-8) went 2-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and blocked 22 shots as they preserved their two-goal edge despite being outshot 15-3 in the third period.
“We just did such a good job of defending the house tonight,” said Bo Horvat, who extended his career-high point streak to 11 games with a power-play goal. “We limited their Grade-A scoring opportunities. They had a lot of jam plays and a lot of little things around the net but Sorokie [goalie Ilya Sorokin] came up huge.”
The Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had his 16-game point streak snapped and McDavid’s 12-game streak was also ended.
The Islanders played most of the last two periods one forward short after third-line right wing Julien Gauthier exited at 1:58 of the second period.
“We played really good defense,” said Sorokin, who stopped the last 30 shots he faced after Draisaitl beat him underneath his glove to open the scoring at 1:23 of the first period. “A lot of blocked shots today. We had a good penalty kill and a really good power play.”
“I thought our structure defensively was good for the most part all night long,” coach Lane Lambert said. “We protected the interior as best we possibly could. It’s a dangerous hockey team over there and I thought we did a pretty good job of that. And when we gave up something, our goaltender was very, very good tonight. He was solid. He was seeing the puck. Very focused.”
The Islanders extended their home point streak to 6-0-3, their longest since opening UBS Arena. They begin a two-game road trip that leads into the three-day Christmas break on Wednesday night against the Capitals, the first of five straight games against Metropolitan Division opponents.
Stuart Skinner, pulled for an extra skater with 5:15 remaining in regulation but back on the ice after Zach Hyman was called for tripping at 16:52, stopped 18 shots for the Oilers (13-15-1).
The Islanders scored on both of their full, two-minute power plays in the second period, tying it at 1-1 as Anders Lee — only on the ice with the first power-play unit because Brock Nelson had to come to the bench with a skate issue — poked in the rebound of Kyle Palmieri’s shot at 2:39.
Horvat then connected from the slot off Nelson’s feed from the right at 11:30.
Holmstrom, dubbed “The Shorthanded King,” by Mathew Barzal, deposited Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s feed to make it 3-1 at 14:10 of the second period. Holmstrom has scored half of his 10 goals this season shorthanded and is just two shy of matching the Islanders’ single-season record.
“It’s good to be the king of something,” said Holmstrom, adding he didn’t know Barzal had called him that.
The Oilers’ power play became a five-on-three advantage 33 seconds after Holmstrom’s goal when defenseman Robert Bortuzzo (holding) joined Nelson (tripping) in the penalty box. But the Islanders limited the Oilers to one shot with the two-man advantage.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.